TULSA GAME NOTES: SMU GAME

TULSA TRAVELS TO SMU LOOKING FOR WIN NO. 6 AND BOWL ELIGIBILITY

GAME #12
TULSA (5-6, 4-3 AAC) vs. SMU (8-3, 4-3 AAC)
Saturday, Nov. 27, 3:00 pm (CT)
Stadium: Gerald J. Ford Stadium (32,000), Dallas, Texas
TV: ESPN2
Radio: Big Country 99.5 FM

CLICK HERE: GAME NOTES

TULSA 5-6, 4-3 The American
Head Coach: Philip Montgomery
(Tarleton State '95)
7th year at Tulsa
Career Record: 36-46 (7 years)
TU Record: same

SMU 8-3, 4-3 The American
Head Coach: Sonny Dykes
(Texas Tech '91)
4^th year at SMU
Career Record: 71-62 (11 years)
SMU Record: 30-17 (4 years)

THE STORYLINES . . .
•          Tulsa is in its 125th season of Tulsa football.
•          Tulsa has the smallest FBS enrollment with 2,929 undergraduate students (based off 2020-21 statistics) … Tulsa's overall enrollment is 3,961 … SMU's enrollment is 11,739.
•          Both teams enter this week's contest with identical 4-3 AAC records.
•          Against common opponents this year, both teams are 3-3 … Tulsa had wins over USF, Tulane and Memphis … SMU's wins came vs. USF, Navy and Tulane … each team lost against Cincinnati and Houston …Tulsa also lost against Navy, and SMU fell to Memphis.
•          Tulsa senior RB Shamari Brooks has moved into third place on the school's career rushing chart with 3,551 career yards, needing 100 more yards to move into second place.

THE SERIES . . .
•          This is the 28th meeting between Tulsa and SMU.
•          SMU leads the series 15-12 … the Mustangs hold a 10-4 lead in Dallas, while Tulsa has an 8-5 advantage at home.
•          Two of Tulsa's losses in Dallas were in overtime – 2004 (41-35) and 2019 (43-37).
•          Tulsa won last year's game against the #19 Mustangs by a score of 28-24 in Tulsa.
•          In games played at SMU, the Mustangs have an 8.1 win margin in its 10 victories, while in the four Hurricane wins the Tulsa win margin is 8.7 points … two of SMU's home wins have come in overtime – 2004 (6 pts) and 2019 (6 pts).

THE MUSTANGS . . .
•          SMU is 5-0 at home this season and has road wins at Louisiana Tech, TCU and Navy for an 8-3 overall mark.
•          The Mustangs are the AAC's most prolific offense int the AAC, averaging 471.4 yards per game, while scoring second in the league at 39.1 points behind Cincinnati's 40 points.
•          SMU QB Tanner Mordecai is among the nation's best with 302.7 yards per game and a total of 38 touchdowns … he ranks second in the nation for passing TDs and 11th for passing yards.

THE SENIORS . . .
•          A total of 25 Tulsa seniors made their final appearance at H.A. Chapman Stadium last week in the home finale against Temple.
•          Eighteen of those seniors had already their degrees and this semester have been either working on a second degree or a master's.

WHEN IT MATTERS. . .
•          Over the last two weeks, Tulsa's defense has held its opponents to just a 10.7-percent third down conversion rate.
•          Tulsa held Tulane and Temple to a combined 3-of-28 on third downs, including 1-of-14 by Tulane and 2-of-14 by the Owls
•          The two teams also converted just 2-of-7 on fourth down for 28 percent.
•          The Hurricane defense has also held its last two opponents to 11 three-and-outs on 25 possessions.

BROOKS MOVES INTO THIRD PLACE ON TULSA'S CAREER RUSHING LIST . . .
•          Running back Shamari Brooks, who missed the 2020 season with an ACL injury, became just the fifth player in school history to surpass 3,000 career rushing yards.
•          He reached the 3,000-yard mark on his third carry against Memphis (10/9).
•          Brooks has now moved into third place on the school's all-time rushing chart with 3,551lyards on 749 career attempts in 43 career games.
•          He surpasses both Trey Watts (3,515, 2010-13) and Micheal Gunter (3,536, 1980-83) with 60 yards against Temple … he needs 100 more yards to tie Tarrion Adams (3,651, 2005-08) for second place on the career list.
•          The senior from Tulsa's Union High School came into the 2021 season ranked 5th on the school's career rushing list with 2,700 yards.
•          Brooks has 16 career 100+ rushing games, including four this season –– 132 yards at Cincinnati, 145 yards at South Florida, 126 yards vs. Memphis and 155 yards vs. Arkansas State.
•          He has scored six rushing TDs this season to give him 29 career touchdowns … he is now in 5th place on the school's career list for rushing TDs, and one shy of moving into 4th place.

POWERS, A CoSIDA ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT PICK . . .
•          Senior defensive back Bryson Powers was named to CoSIDA Academic All-District® VII football team last week.
•          Powers finished his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering in May 2021 with a 3.72 grade point average … he is currently working on his master's degree in business.
•          He has earned American Athletic Conference academic all-conference honors each season
•          For his senior project, he and his group designed a nano brewery that could brew 2 ½ gallons.
•          Powers is now eligible to earn CoSIDA Academic All-America honors.

WHAT A WEEK . . .
•          Last Tuesday night (Nov. 16), senior offensive lineman Chris Paul made his first in-person musical appearance as the artist "Seventh".
•          Said Paul ... "It was held at Notion, an underground coffee shop in downtown Tulsa. "They have an huge black box on the inside so that's where we performed. It was packed. There were so many people there. It was such a special moment. It was energetic."
•          A day later, Paul received and accepted an invitation to the Reese's Senior Bowl.

QUICK HITS . . .
•          Tulsa has six players who have played in 50 career games – Robert Revels III (58), Adam Higuera (56), Tyarise Stevenson (54), Cristian Williams (54), Tiller Bucktrot (52) and Treyvon Reeves (51).
•          Tulsa's 44 points vs. Temple was a season-high and the most since scoring 49 points in the 2019 season finale at East Carolina … it was also the most points scored at home since scoring 49 points vs. UConn on Nov. 3, 2018.
•          Tulsa has six 200+ rushing games this year, – 247 vs. UC Davis, 308 vs. Arkansas, 235 vs. Memphis, 269 vs. USF, 297 vs. No. 9-ranked Cincinnati defense and 216 vs. Temple.
•          Tulsa has had five plays for scrimmage of 60 yards or more –– 88, 78, 75, 63 and 61 –– including three that went for touchdowns.
•          Anthony Watkins had Tulsa's first special teams score since the 2012 season when he had 97-yard kickoff return against Navy … in 2012, Tulsa had a punt and kickoff return for a TD.
•          Davis Brin is the 15th different quarterback in school history to reach 2,000+ passing yards in a single season … he now has 2,740 yards on the season to rank 13th on the school's single-season passing chart.
•          Shamari Brooks now has 3,551 career rushing yards and 29 career TDs and ranks third on the school's career rushing chart.

MISLEADING STAT . . .
•          Statistically, Tulsa ranks 75th nationally for points allowed, giving up 27.0 points per game.
•          A closer look at the stats show that Tulsa's defense has allowed 4.4 points less at 22.6 points (249) per game.
•          Tulsa opponents have scored four times on special teams for 28 points and three times on defense for another 21 points for a total of 49 points.
•          Without the defensive and special teams scores, the 22.6 points allowed per game would rank Tulsa 41st nationally.

UNDER MONTY . . .
•          In 82 games under Philip Montgomery, Tulsa has scored over 40 points 26 times and has posted a 21-5 record when doing so.
•          Tulsa has gone over 500 yards of total offense in 28 games under Montgomery for a 19-9 record.
•          The Golden Hurricane has gone over 600 yards 10 times under Montgomery, including this year's 663 this year against Arkansas State … Tulsa had a high game of 667 yards in 2017 against Louisiana-Lafayette.
•          Tulsa has 14 300+ yard rushing games in the Montgomery era, with a school record eight in 2016, three in 2017, two in 2019 and one this season (308 vs. Arkansas State).
•          Tulsa is 12-2 when two players have gone over 100 rushing yards in the same game since 2015 under Montgomery.
•          Tulsa has three 400+ rushing games under Montgomery, two coming in back-to-back games in 2017 (424 vs. Louisiana, 423 at Toledo) and one in 2016 (470 vs. UConn).

TULSA GAME NOTES: SMU GAME

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Players Mentioned

Davis Brin

Shamari Brooks

Tiller Bucktrot

Adam Higuera

Chris Paul

Bryson Powers

Treyvon Reeves

Robert Revels III

Tyarise Stevenson

Anthony Watkins

Cristian Williams

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